Bluegrass CEO Nabbed Over Mathematical Sets Contract

The Chief Executive Officer of the Bluegrass Group Ltd, Kwadwo Darko-Mensah popularly referred to as Onasis has been arrested by officials of the National Investigations Bureau (NIB) formerly Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) to assist in an ongoing investigation into sole-sourced procurement of mathematical sets.

The NIB arrested the businessman who is a known sympathizer of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) to assist in investigation into the mathematical sets contract.

Mr. Darko-Mensah Onasis is the Local Agent of an international company, Cornfield Group Ltd which was mandated in 2019 to deliver a total of eight hundred and fifty-three thousand (853,000) pieces of mathematical sets at a cost of ¢75 per unit by the Ministry of Education in September 2019 which was neither delivered on schedule or in full.

The 853,000 mathematical sets were supposed to be given to students for the 2020 WASSCE.

Because of this WASSCE timeline, the contract was treated as “urgent” and sole-sourced without any form of bidding in September 2019 to the company.

In addition, the mathematical sets contractor Bluegrass Limited was granted a free tax waiver of $3.6 million by the government on the recommendation of Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, Education Minister. The tax waiver was approved by Parliament.

Throughout the 2020 WASSCE however, no student received the “math sets” from the government.

Indeed, the Institute for Education Studies (IFEST) for example questioned why the mathematical sets which were sole-sourced at a “high price” were never delivered on time for the very purpose it was tagged as “urgent”

They criticize the validity of the sole sourcing procedure adopted and the 75 Ghana cedis cost because the contract can no longer be classified as an urgent need for the WASSCE candidates now.

At ¢75 per mathematical set, the total contract came to ¢63,975,675. Blueglass Limited failed to deliver within the agreed time. It later issued PR-statements announcing it had delivered “first consignment” without stating any figure, even long after the WASSCE was over.

It is alleged that officers of the NIB arrested Kwadwo Darko-Mensah in relation to the contract.

Vetting Pop up

The issue of the Mathematical sets contract and the arrest and detention of CEO of Bluegrass Ltd Kwadwo Darko-Mensah came up during the vetting of Dr Matthew Opoku-Prempeh with the former Education Minister disowning Mr. Darko-Mensah, claiming he “didn’t know him from anywhere”, a  claim insiders say could make the minister-designate liable to perjury.

Mathew Opoku Prempeh struggled to answer questions posed on the maths set matter by NDC MP Alhassan Suhuyini.

Opoku Prempeh attempted to deflect blame to his deputy Dr Osei Adutwum over the Mathematical sets contracts after Dr. Osei Adutwum in his vetting said he had no answer for the question on the Mathematical sets.